Domestic water-heater and tank system.



PATBNTED APR. 25, 1905.

J. J. BLAGKMORE.

DOMESTIC WATER HEATER AND TANK SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26. 1904.

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Patented April 25, 1905.

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFicE.

JOSEPH J. BLAOKUORE, OF BROOKLYN, NEIV YORK.

DOMESTIC WATER-HEATER AND TANK SYSTEM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,089, dated April25, 1905.

Application filed June 25,1904. Serial No. 214,121.

To (/J/ 1141mm if 7111'! concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrn J. BLACIUIORE, acitizen of the United States,whose residence and post-oflice address is 204; Macon street, Brooklyn,county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulIm p rovemen ts in l)omestic\Vatcr-l Ieaters and Tank Systems, fullydescribed and represented in the following specification and theaccompanyingdrawings, forming a part of the same.

The object of the prescntinvention is to furnish an effective apparatusfor furnishing hot water at all times in apartment-houses and buildingswhich are heated by steam in the winter, but do not require any steamheat in the summer season.

I employ a reservoir-tank and steam-pipes inclosed in a casingcontaining water, with the upper and lower parts of the casing connectedto the upper and lower parts of the reservoirtank, so that when steam isavailable water may be supplied to the casing of the steamheater and thehot water continuously circulated through the tank. hen the steam is notavailable, I provide a separate waterheatcr having a furnace in whichfuel is burned to heat the water, and I connect the upper and lowerparts of the same to the upper and lower parts of the steamwater-heater, which is so constructed that the hot water may becirculated through it and through the reservoir-tank from the hot-waterboiler. The system thus requires a steam-generator containing a furnacefor generating the steam, i

a water-heating boiler containing a furnace for heating the water, areservoir-tank forholding a supply of hot water, and the steamwater-heater containing steam-pipes and a water-casing which may attimes be used for heating the water and which at other times furnishes aconnection between the hot-water boiler and the reservoir-tank.

In my construction I employ a plain cylindrical tank to operate merelyas a reservoir for the heated water and furnish an auxiliary tubularheater having a water-jacket with connections at its opposite ends tothe upper and 1 lower parts of the tank and a water-supply connectedwith the jacket. steam-tubes immersed in the water within the jacket,heads upon the jacket, and steam-pipes connected with the steamtubes andextended through the heads of the jacket, so that water may beautomatically circulated through the steam water-heater and the tank,and fresh water introduced by the water-supply pipe is heatedcontinuously as water is drawn from the tank.

The steam watcr-heater constructed as just described for supplying thehot-water tank can be made very cheaply and furnished, with the tankitself, at less cost than a coil-boiler of equal capacity, such as iscommonly furnished to apartment-houses for delivering hot water, whileit furnishes a construction which is more eilicicnt and is also far morereadily cleaned and repaired.

The water-heater described herein may be made almost wholly ofwrought-iron pipe and common threaded pipe-fittings and is thus not onlyconstructed cheaply, but readily taken apart or its parts renewed incase of injury.

The water-jacket of the steam water-heater is provided at opposite endswith cross connections which can be extended to the upper and lowerparts of the fuel water-heater, and thus form part of the circuitbetween the fuel watcr-heatcr and the reservoir-tank when thesteam-generator is not in operation. The pipe for supplying steam to thesteam waterheater wouldin such case be closed by a valve and theconnections with the fuel water-heater opened, the construction thenpermitting the hot water from the fuel water-heater to circulatedirectly across the steam water-heater to the hot-water tank.

My invention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a steamgencrator, a fuelwater-heater, a steam waterheater, and a hot-water storage-tank with thenecessary pipe connections. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of thesteam water-heater. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the threaded disk1-; and Fig. 4, a perspective view of the reducer j, to the larger endof which the disk is litted.

In Fig. l, A designates the steam-generator; B, the fuel water-heater;O, the steam waterhcater, and l) the hot-water tank or reservoir,

suspended from the ceiling by straps E. In Fig. 2 the water-jacket c isshown of wroughtiron pipe threaded at the ends, where it is providedwith cast-iron crosses having openings (Z at the left, which areconnected, respectively, by pipes a and b with the upper and lower partsof the tank D. On the right the openings 5 of the crosses are connectedby pipes fand g with the upper and lower parts, respectively, of thefuel water-heater. These pipes are provided with valves f and n. Theends of the crosses are closed by plugs h, perforated for the passage ofsteam-pipes and provided with stuiiing-boxes z'upon their outer ends. Apipe-reducer j is shown within each of the crosses, with its smalleropening connected to a steam-pipe constructed through the stuifing-box.The larger opening of the reducer is closed by a threaded disk is, whichis formed with a series of holes in which steamtubes Z are fitted andexpanded to form tight joints. The steam-pipe m at the upper end of thesteam-tubes is connected with the top of the steam-generator to receivesteam therefrom and is provided with a valve m. The steam-pipe n fromthe bottom of the steamtubes drains the condensed water from the tubesand may return the same in the usual manner to the lower part of thesteam-generator. The water-tank is provided near the upper part with apipe 0 to draw off the heated water as required. A water-supply pipe Fis shown extended from the hot-water tank and would in practice beconnected with an open elevated tank to keep the Water-chamber in suchheater constantly filled with water and to supply any loss of water whendrawn from such water-chamber. When connected with the water-tank D, thewater-heater may thus serve to keep the tank entirely filled while wateris being drawn therefrom. With this system of apparatus when thesteam-generator is in operation the valves f and g are closed and thesteam is admitted to the steam water-heater, the steam-tubes of whichare immersed in the water in the jacket 0, which heats the water in thejacket and circulates the same through the boiler. The water rises inthe jacket as it is heated, and the hot water thus enters the top of thewater-tank and permits hot water to be drawn from such tank before theentire contents of the tank have been heated by passage through thewaterheater. In the warm season when the steamgenerator is not requiredfor heating the apartments the valve m is closed and the valves f and 9opened, and the fuel waterheater is operated to supply the tank D withhot water.

The construction of the steam water-heater C permits the water to passfrom the opening a to the opening (Z within the crosses and thence bythe pipes a and b to circulate through the tank D. The particularconstruction for the steam water-heater thus facilitates the passage ofthe water through the same from the fuel water-heater when steam cannotbe obtained. The steam enters all of the steamtubes in the steamwater-heater at once, and as it makes a short circuit to reach thereturnpipe at the circulation of steam is very free and the water in thejacket is rapidly heated.

This apparatus is designed exclusively for domestic use, and thecomplete system embraces the steam-generator and the fuel water-heaterin addition to the steam waterheater and the hot-water tank. The fuelwater-heater is essential for use in large apartment-houses, as a verylarge amount of hot water is used in such houses in the warm season andthe fuel water-heater is required'to maintain the supply of hot waterwhen the steam water-heater is unable to operate for want of steam.

I am aware that gas has been employed to heat a hot-water tank when suchtank is normally supplied by a water-back in a cookingrange, the gasbeing required to heat the tank when the range is put out of use in thewarm season by the substitution of a gas-cooker.

In cases where the steam-generator is used for warming apartments I amnot aware that a steam water-heater has ever been used independently ofthe hot-water tank to supply the hot water to the tank, and suchcombination offers many advantages in cheapening the construction and infacilitating cleaning and repairs. Either end of the water heater shownin the drawings can be readily unscrewed and all of the parts examinedfor cleaning or repairs and the parts replaced in their working positionwith very little delay or expense.

By substituting the auxiliary steam waterheater and tank for theordinary coil-tank the steam water-heaters can be manufactured ofseveral sizes and readily kept in stock, so that they can be suppliedwith the tank to meet any requirement at very short notice, which cannotbe done at the present time where a coil-boiler is demanded.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what is claimedherein is l. A domestic water-heater and tank system, comprisingareservoir-tank, the steam waterheater C with water connections at itsopposite ends to the upper and lower parts of the tank,a steam-generatorhaving furnace to generate the steam, steam-pipes within the steamwater-heater having a connection therefrom to the steam-space of thegenerator, and an outlet for the condensed water, the fuel waterheater Bhaving a furnace to heat the water for use in emergencies and in summer,and branch water-pipes connecting the opposite ends of the steamwater-heater with the upper and lower parts of the fuel water-heater,whereby the tank can be supplied with hot water from the fuelwater-heater when the steam-generator is not in use.

2. A domestic water-heater and tank system, comprising a reservoir-tank,a steam-genera tor having a furnace for generating the steam, a steamWater-heater having a water-jacket of wrought tubing with pipe-crossesat opposite ends, and stuffing-boxes upon the end outlets, the pipe 1)connecting the lower part of the tank with the jacket, steam-tubesimmersed in the water within the water-jacket with steam-pipes extendedtherefrom through the stufling-boxes to the top and bottom of thesteam-generator, a fuel water-heater for use in emergencies and insummer and having a furnace to heat the water, and branch waterpipesconnected respectively with the side openings of the pipe-crosses andwith the upper and lower ports of the fuel water-heater, whereby whenthe steam is not available, the water from the fuel water-heater may becirculated to the tank across the opposite ends of the steamwater-heater.

3. A domestic water-heater and tank system comprising the reservoir-tankD, the steamgenerator A having furnace therein for generating the steam,the fuel water-heater B having furnace therein for heating the water,and the steam water-heater 0 having steampipes for heating water, thesteam waterheater having its water-chamber connected at opposite ends tothe upper and lower parts of the tank D, and its steam-chamber connectedat opposite ends to the upper and lower parts of the steam-generator A,an outlet for hot water from the tank D, an inlet upon the tank forfresh water, and branch water-pipes F and G connecting the opposite endsof the waterchamber of the steam water-heater with the upper and lowerparts of the fuel waterheater B, whereby steam from the generator may beused to heat the tank-water in the cold season, and the fuelwater-heater B may be used to heat the tank-water in the summer season.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

JOSEPH J. BLACKMORE. \Vitnesses:

L. LEE,

THOMAS S. CRANE.

